North Carolina Children’s Hospital has been ranked in seven clinical specialties in U.S. News & World Report’s 2013-14 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings, marking the sixth straight year N.C. Children’s Hospital has been recognized as one of “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals."

N.C. Children’s Hospital is recognized 11th in pulmonology, 24th in gastroenterology, 28th in neonatology, 31st in cancer, 35th in orthopaedics, 41st in endocrinology and diabetes, and 45th in nephrology.

“This is a well-deserved honor for the talented and very dedicated clinicians who are making North Carolina Children’s Hospital an increasingly well respected leader in the care of children, not just here in the Southeast but across the country,” said Wesley Burks, MD, chief physician of N.C. Children’s Hospital and chair of pediatrics at the UNC School of Medicine.

The rankings highlight the top 50 U.S. hospitals in each of these pediatric specialties: cancer, cardiology & heart surgery, diabetes & endocrinology, gastroenterology & GI surgery, neonatology, nephrology, neurology & neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. Of 179 hospitals surveyed, 87 ranked in at least one of the 10 specialties.

“N.C. Children’s Hospital deserves high praise,” said Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow. “Ranking shows the dedication and expertise that N.C. Children’s brings to the care of children who need those qualities the most. We think it is important to identify and call attention to pediatric centers like this one.”

U.S. News introduced the Best Children’s Hospitals rankings in 2007 to help families of sick children find the best medical care available. The rankings offer families an exclusive look at quality-related information at the individual hospital level.

Each hospital’s reputation among doctors was only a small part of what U.S. News factored into its rankings. Three-quarters of each hospital’s score was determined through an analysis of patient outcomes and data on the structural resources each hospital has for pediatric care. To gather data, U.S. News used two surveys: a clinical questionnaire sent to 179 pediatric hospitals and, for the reputational assessment, a survey of 150 pediatric specialists and subspecialists in each specialty. The 1,500 physicians were asked where they would send the sickest children in their specialty, setting aside location and expense.